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Alvaro Alvaro Orjuela Orjuela Londo Londo o o, PhD. , PhD.

Associate professor Associate professor
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Universidad Universidad Nacional Nacional de Colombia, Bogot de Colombia, Bogot
Sustainable Process Design Sustainable Process Design
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Sustainable process design Sustainable process design
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Energy and feedstock costs are challenges for some chemicals
(mainly commodities)
For commodity chemicals (i.e., market prices below $1/kg), the
product price is affected mainly by raw material costs.
For specialty chemicals (i.e., $2 - $5/kg), process and recovery
costs, including energy, are even larger factors in final prices.
Technology is major challenge for some others: Pharmaceuticals,
food and feed, specialty chemicals, and fine chemicals
Research should be focused on downstream processing
(separation and purification) and optimization of water
management. Process integration taking into account
recycling and waste management
U.S. Biobased Products Market Potential and Projections Through 2025. USDA. 2008
Motivation for process design Motivation for process design
economics economics
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Cost of waste Cost of waste
Clark, J. Green chemistry: challenges and opportunities. Green Chemistry
February 1999. 1-8.
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Process design stages Process design stages
Towler G, Sinnot R. Chemical Engineering Design, Principles, Practice and
Economics of Process and Plant Process Design, 2
nd
Ed., Elsevier, 2014, p. 4.
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Process design in detail Process design in detail
Narvaez, P. Diseo de procesos qumicos y bioqumicos. Notas de clase. Universidad
Nacional de Colombia. 2014
Knowledge of the
product: technical
specifications,
properties, market
Physical or/and
chemical
transformation needs
Chemical routes
Product and raw materials
quality assessment and
storage needs
Process integration
Operations and
Process flow
diagrams
Separation and
purification operations
Knowledge of the raw
materials and
adjuncts: technical
specifications,
properties, market
Raw material
pretreatment
Process conditions for
selected chemical route
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Biobased Biobased chemicals design chemicals design
principles principles
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And also And also
Sustainable Sustainable
development development
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Process Synthesis Process Synthesis
Hierarchic & Heuristic (Douglas JM. Conceptual design of chemical processes. New
York: McGraw-Hill; 1988) Previous process knowhow were built upon
traditional petrochemical processes. Must use computer
modeling. (George W. Huber at UMASS)
Superstructure Computer based multi-objective design. (profits,
waste minimization, multi feedstock and product integration,
sustainability)
Recently accomplished with many assumptions (Grossman at
Carnegie Mellon; El-Halwagi at TA&M, Daoutidis at Minnesota)
and including the molecular level (Marquardt group at Aachen).
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H&H Process Synthesis H&H Process Synthesis
Smith, R.(2005). Chemical process design and integration. Wiley.
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Superstructure Superstructure
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2013, 52, 30443064
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Major drawbacks Major drawbacks
Although design is often well supported by process design
software, what about product specifications?
selection of the reaction pathway?
Thermodynamics and phase equilibria of highly
functionalized biobased molecules?
Reaction mechanisms and kinetics
Catalysts and heterogeneous catalytic models
Integrating experiments with the conceptual design can help in
planning and guiding laboratory experiments giving ideas on the
economical range of experimental parameters.
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Meet specifications Meet specifications
Physicochemical properties Density, viscosity, solubility
parameter, boiling temperature, refraction index, pH, etc. These
are found in databases (CRC, NIST, DETHERM, DIPPR, Yawss
handbook, Perrys Handbook, Aspen Database, Scifinder, etc.)
Functional properties Related with final application. HBL
(hydrophilic-Lipophilic balance), Color, Odor, Nonvolatile matter,
Distillation range, Substitution factor (plasticizers, resins,
polymers), Drying time (resins, coatings, plasticizer), Resistance
to water, Brightness, etc. These are market-defined and found in
technical data sheets or product specification sheets
Chemical + Functional Acid value, Humidity, Saponification
value, Unsaponifiable matter, Ashes, etc.
How to measure them? ASTM, DIN, ISO, AOCS, EN, USP, etc.
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Physical risks, health and Physical risks, health and
environment environment
Sustainability & Safe and conscious design
Design constrains Toxicity, Eco-toxicity, vapor density, flash
point, auto ignition, explosion limits, lethal dosage, half-life time,
exposure limits. Defined by international regulation. These are
found in MSDS
Environmental impacts metrics Global Warming Potential
(GWP), Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), Photochemical
Oxidation Potential (PCOP), Acidification Potential (AP), Nutrients
Enrichement Potential (NEP), Eco-Toxic Potential (ETP), Human
Toxicity Potential by Ingestion (HTPI), Human Toxicity Potential by
Dermal Exposure potential (HTDE). Found in LCAs, EPA,UN,
IChemE, etc.
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Regulations and Market Regulations and Market
Protective Laws and Regulation. Toxicity, environmental
impacts, potentially harmful uses (illegal drugs, explosives,
weapons). Local + global regulations Available at Basel
convention, Rotterdam convention and Stockholm convention,
International Conference on Chemicals Management
Market and Pricing. Pricing, world and local production, imports
and exports, companies, technologies, product specifications,
Existing plants capacities, etc. Available at ICIS Chemical
Business, Chemical & Engineering News, FAOSTAT, US Foreign
Agricultural Service, UN COMTRADE, UN DATA, OECD
Statistics, etc.
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Reaction Information Reaction Information
Minimum information Raw materials, stoichiometry, phase,
catalysts (if any), Reaction conditions, collateral reactions,
undesired behavior (e. g. pyrophoric, extreme heat evolved,
explosive). Available at NIST, CASREACT, Chemspyder,
Chemsynthesis, Reaxys, etc.
Comparative analysis Raw materials, products and catalysts
Reaction conditions Thermodynamics, kinetics, state of the art
on processing technology. Temperature, pressure, phase, flow
regime, molar ratio, residence or reaction time, catalyst nature
and concentration, etc. Available at Patents, Kirk-Othmer,
Ullmanns, Papers and Books.
Compatibility of raw materials Reacting phase, solubility
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THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Questions? Questions?